Blazing Dawn
by LittleLaterose
Summary: Morgan is a young squirrel whose life has always been peaceful. He is shy among the other creatures of Redwall. He speaks briefly with most, but has found a friend in a young orphaned mousmaid. together, they go in search of Morgan's father.


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Redwall. I do however, own a very busy imagination.

Doyle shivered as he rapped on the great wooden doors before him. The snow was falling faster now, and the wind blew fiercely. He could feel icicles forming on his headspikes. He knocked again, praying that somebeast was still awake at this hour.

The door opened a crack, getting stuck in the snowdrifts behind it. A stout, old field mouse poked his head out.

"Good even'n to you," Doyle said with a slight bow, "Could I trouble you for a bed, to spend the night?"

The old mouse struggled to push the door open farther, and ushered Doyle inside, "You're welcome as long as you please. Besides, Abbot Ferris won't allow anybeast to go a'wanderin' when there's this much snow about."

Before they even reached the Abbey doors, Doyle began to feel warmer. The stone building emanated a feeling of peace and tranquility. The red stone was so beautiful, Doyle couldn't help wondering if he'd died and gone off to a better place.

Once inside, the old gatekeeper took Doyle's bag from him, despite protests.

"Nonsense," he said, "you come and dry off. I'll carry your wet things."

Doyle followed the mouse through an immense room with long tables. He wished he could have paused to admire the stained glass windows, but he didn't want to lose sight of the mouse.

They went down a set of stairs into another room. Creatures of many different kinds were seated in front of a blazing fire.

A mole looked up from his overstuffed armchair. He picked up the infant otter from his lap and set her on the ground. The other infants stopped in their games to look over at the newcomer.

"Welcome to Redwall h'Abbey," the mole said, walking towards Doyle, "Tell oi, what brings 'ee yurr on such a cold noite?"

Doyle chuckled at the creature's strange accent, "I feared I might be buried alive if I tried to sleep outside. I was hoping I could spend the night here."

Now it was the Abbot's turn to laugh, "Moi friend, you'm ne'er 'ave to sleep outsoide again unlessen 'ee want to. You'm can stay 'ere at our gurt h'Abbey as long as 'ee want, zuur."

It wasn't long before Doyle found himself seated by the fire, with dibbuns crowding around him.

The gatekeeper smiled at the hedgehog, "Tis a good thing I went back to get my glasses, or you'd still be outside! Say, were abouts are you from?"

A young hogbabe poked his snout under Doyle's arm, "Yeah, wherra you from?"

Doyle laughed again, and pulled the hog into his lap, "I'm a chronicler by trade. I travel far and wide in search of stories."

"Bruvver Norbert was just gonna tell us a story! Are you gonna listen too? Are you?"

The gatekeeper nodded and shifted to become more comfortable in his chair. He straightened his thick glasses, "I'm sure he will Kael. But I can't start if you don't stop talking," he cleared his throat, "It all started on a winter night, just like this one."

Chapter One-

Abbess Tayte pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. Normally, the walk to the gatehouse was a short one. But the gale force winds drove the snow so quickly that you hardly knew what had hit you before another one came along.

She thought she heard a noise, but brushed it off as nothing. She was getting on in seasons, and her ears had played tricks on her many times before. She shook her head, knocking off some of the snow that had landed on her shoulders. The pounding continued.

Tayte pushed the door to the gatekeeper's cottage open. A young squirrelmaid was seated on the floor, surrounded by books and papers.

"Posy, you missed supper again."

The squirrel looked up and blushed, "I'm sorry. It's just so quiet out here, and I was so caught up in my reading, that I suppose I forgot about eating."

Tayte sat down on an old wooden chair, "You spend more time reading and writing than Brother Ray! You'll make a wonderful Abbey recorder someday."

A smiled stretched across Posy's face, "Really? Oh, Mother Abbess that would be lovely!"

Tayte smiled, "I figured you'd feel that way. Brother Ray suggested it. His eyesight won't hold out forever. It's about time he began teaching somebeast how to take over for him."

Posy's face glowed with happiness. She was about to thank Tayte, when a pounding noise interrupted her thoughts, "What was that?"

"You heard it too, then?"

"It sounds like somebeast is hitting the gate," Posy rose and went to the door, "I'm sure of it now. It's louder over here."

Abbess Tayte went and opened the door. There was a slight break in the wind, during which you could almost hear somebeast crying. She made her way to the gate, her cloak forgotten on the chair.

The snowdrifts had grown so tall that it took both Tayte and Posy to pull the door open even a crack. A mouse sat huddled beneath a cloak, shivering. His paw was near frozen into a fist from pounding on the door.

Tayte rushed to the mouse's side. After a moment she called to Posy, "Run back to the Abbey. Fetch Vera! There's a dibbun out here!"


End file.
